It is impossible to say how
many unregistered prostitutes there were in Paris during the mid nineteenth
century. Likewise, it is impossible to say how many men frequented the
brothels or propositioned streetwalkers
in the back of bars. Although many social studies have been completed
on prostitution and the types of men who requested their services, there
is no way of knowing exactly how many women were forced to sell their
bodies on the streets of Paris.

It is known, however, that
both registered prostitutes and unregistered prostitutes were frequent
victims of assault, rape, and (though uncommon) murder. The only accurate
record of prostitution is that kept by the members of the Gendarmerie
Royale, as written in their daily logs, which were sent each day to
the Prefecture of Police. These records show who was arrested, and the
reason for their arrest. Most importantly, these arrest records provide
the only firsthand look into the lives of unregistered prostitutes in
Paris during that time, and also the relationship between these women
and the authorities who arrested them.

Police were often called
to brothels for noise complaints, and other
petty crimes. The arrest records cite the arrondissement where the arrest
occurred. As is evidenced on this chart, the main reasons why unregistered
prostitutes were interrogated and taken into custody by the police were
"contravention" and "malady".
Less frequent were incidences of theft..

Venereal Disease

It is interesting to note
that unregistered prostitutes were often arrested because they had venereal
diseases. Could this be a response to the concerns Alexandre Parent-Duchatlet
raised in his study of prostitution in Paris in the 19 century? It is
probable that police were attempting to check the spread of venial disease
in the city by forbidding these women to continue in their line of work.
However, in most cases, as we learned in studying the brothels of Paris,
the venereal diseases were contracted by the prostitutes *from* their
clients. (In theory, the men who frequented the brothels should have
been locked up instead of the prostitutes!) Here is a chart of the number
of unregistered prostitutes arrested for "malady" in the mid
19th century:

Within a six year
span, over one thousand women were taken into custody for having
venereal diseases. Although the majority of these women were
only arrested once or twice, it is questionable how police took
these women into custody simply for having an ailment. Venereal
disease, although it certainly had a negative stigma attached
to it in the 19th century, was certainly not grounds for detainment.
These arrests suggest that the police were not only figureheads
of physical authority in Paris, but also the figureheads of
moral authority:

Police (and government)
in Paris could have easily turned a blind eye to unregistered
prostitution in Paris, just as they turned a blind eye to the
courtesans and lorettes, the upper and middle class counterparts
of streetwalkers and those who worked in brothels. Instead,
they took it into their own hands to clean up the
city of Paris, which included getting rid of what they considered
moral scum. Lower class prostitutes definitely fell into this
category, according to the government, so they could justify
arresting a prostitute simply because she had a venereal disease.

This chart, however,
in no way represents the number of streetwalkers that were arrested
in Paris during that time, since the number of prostitutes who
were not arrested greatly outnumbered the number of prostitutes
who were.

Contravention

Jill Harsin reports
in her book Policing Prostitution in Paris in the 19th Century
that the term contravention was used by the police to connote any number
of offenses committed. "On the few occasions when a prostitute
was arrested specifically for theft and assault, it often meant that
the authorities might be planning to bring her to trial for the more
serious offense. Essentially, the term 'contravention', which means
breaking the rules, was applied generally to offenses prostitutes committed.

Contravention is
by far the most prevalent reason the Gendarmerie listed for arresting
prostitute. This signified a violation of government legislated, police
enforced regulations, and not a crime per se. Prostitutes were also
arrested for vagrancy and theft, and sometimes for ambigous "crimes
against persons. For whatever reason they were arrested, prostitutes
found themselves dealing with police who were specifically assigned
to them as members of the Prefecture. There was a definite procedure,
which we will learn about next.